Outside money beginning to trickle in to Kansas Senate race

Outside political spending — already well over $3 million in the Kansas governor’s race — has started to show up in the Kansas Senate race.

An outside group called the Committee to Elect an Independent Senate has filed papers with TV stations, preparing to purchase advertising in the Kansas contest.

Here’s the spot:

The group’s treasurer is Thomas Layton. Layton was one of the co-founders of the Common Sense Coalition for Change, Greg Orman’s now-ended effort to “increase understanding of public policies” through digital media.

We don’t yet know how much the committee will spend. The filings for Kansas City area stations began Wednesday. (Bloomberg has more here.)

At the same time, local TV paperwork is emerging from a group called Ending Spending Action Fund, described by Open Secrets as “a conservative 501(c)4 group that focuses on federal spending and the national debt.” It’s also connected with an aide to former Sen. Bob Dole.

Again, we don’t know how much money the group will spend in Kansas. But Open Secrets says the group has already spent $10 million this election cycle.

It’s likely the group’s ads will oppose Orman.

The Committee to Elect an Independent Senate will eventually have to reveal its donors, because its a super PAC. The Ending Spending Action Fund donations will remain secret forever, because it’s a 501(c)(4) social welfare group.

The National Federation of Independent Business is also spending in Kansas, on Roberts’ behalf, as is Freedom Partners, a group associated with David and Charles Koch. Freedom Partners appear to have invested $900,000 in the Kansas Senate race to date, all to oppose Orman’s candidacy.